Somehow, and I am not at all sure how so please don't ask, it's basically September.  It's basically September, and it's actually starting to be cool at night.  I am completely torn between 'wait, slow down, we didn't actually get a summer what with all the staying home so as to not kill ourselves or our loved ones' and 'anything we can do to bring this hell year to an end is great, so bring on fall.'  But since my opinions on the matter won't actually change the weather, I think I'll just revel in the cool weather. Revel, and [...]

Look, this year is a dumpster fire.  It just is.  But for the love of wool, I am taking any tiny bit of joy I can find and clinging to it like a needy little barnacle. And these silly little things?  Well they bring me joy. They seem to do the same for quite a few of you too.  And I'm taking what I can get these days. I hope you'll do the same. (Yes it will be a pattern, probably in October, I'll talk more about what's inside them and how they go together as we get closer to [...]

You know me by now.  You know I have an unspeakable fondness for sets. So you knew there were going to be mitts to go with the hat.  They're called Portend, they're out now on ravelry and payhip, and if you're fast, you can take 10% off in either place with the code SIGNIFY. Look, I suspect you are far more fashionable than I am.  My favorite thing about winter is that I can more easily get away with wearing my pajamas to the grocery store (I mean...you know...back when we went inside grocery stores instead of just doing curbside [...]

So I cheat. If I have something like this, that is mostly purls and a few knits, I knit the thing inside out (so I'm knitting more than I'm purling). Then, when I get to the part with less purling and more knitting, I flip it back right side out again and carry on my merry way. ⁠⠀ ⁠Is it necessary? Nope. Does it amuse me? Yup. Do I think you should do it? Up to you, you are the boss of your knitting. But it keeps me happy so I have no complaints!

I mean, you knew it was going to happen. I am apparently unable to actually knit actual useful stuff for too long before I get distracted and have to knit tiny absurd things. And I would apologize for that, but I'm not actually sorry. And from what I can tell, I'm also not the only one who has a fondness for tiny absurd things! So...let's go for it. This should be fun!  

Here's the point where I might be tempted to write a whole lecture on how casting on over two needles is fine so long as you know what it's doing and do it intentionally. But luckily, I've already written that, so I can just point you at it.  Because it is.  It's fine.  I promise.  I've checked!

Have I mentioned lately that you should swatch? I mean I feel like I probably have. But just in case you're new, swatch.⁠ ⁠ Because it's much better to find out that the lovely yarn and the lovely stitch pattern do not play nicely together after 3 inches of a swatch rather than after 3 inches of a hat. And again, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the yarn...it's just that this yarn and this stitch do not currently want to get all tangled up in each other. ⁠ ⁠ But never fear, there's more in the stash where this [...]

Alrighty, I told you mitts were quick. And brioche is quick. So brioche mitts are doubly quick. Which really, given that I have the attention span of a concussed squirrel at the moment, is not a bad thing at all.

Sometimes I want to do something fancy and fiddly and maybe even hard. But this is not that time. Right now, I want things to be very very mellow (but, you know, still lovely, because lovely helps).  And somehow, Presage strikes that perfect balance between astonishingly mellow and absolutely delightful. There are precisely six fiddly rows in the body of the hat.  No really, six rows (even better, it's the same one fiddly row worked six times, so once you've done it once, you have the hang of it and you'll be golden going forward).  The rest is just plain [...]